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I'm going to be launching a community for actors and want to keep it as professionally looking as possible. With this in mind, is my "only" choice to spring the $89 or so and install the Ultimate Bulletin Board (the very one that this site uses!) OR is it "acceptable" in the professional world to go with a remotely hosted quality bulletin board like coolboard.com, for example?!

Any script you host on your own server with your own configuration and ads is better than a remotely hosted script. Remotely hosted scripts are good only if you do not have the capabilities to run them on your own.

Another question in point; Would it be better to then install, let's say, WWWBoard (for free) which seems to look visually less attractive than the UBB, or should I spring the money and install the UBB which might look better and give more features to me?!

There is also http://www.ultraboard.org/ I think it is still free and it's very similar to this ubb board and I believe better too. But I think the auther might put a price on it soon since its a big one to code.

[This message has been edited by Sadwebmaster (edited March 08, 2000).]

Ultraboard is a great program, but all pages are generated dynamically. The script doesnt create html pages like the UBB script. Because of the fact that the pages are created dynamically, if you have a large amount of visitors ur board then this will cause a huge strain on the server. Many hosts have complained about this board. I love it, its only this fact that stops me from using it.

I say, go for the UBB if you expect some decent traffic. Or go with ultraboard if you REALLY dont want to spend money and will not have that much traffic.

Well I think crosswire convinced me. I had previously heard negative feedback (perhaps even minor) regarding the ultraboard, and with your very insightful points in mind, I do plan on (and will work for) decent traffic and a big community web site and I'm not against spending the money, so I believe, with all the helpful replies, my choice is made!

I have installed Ultraboard before and didn't have a problem. If you go to the support forum you can even download some graphics that make it look very similar to UBB.

The reason so many people install UBB is because it was one of the first of its kind available to the masses for a low price, low compared to the hundreds of thousands sites like Yahoo and Geocities paid for their bulletin board systems. They have built up a good brand name and people follow that.